Public Gardens and Livable Cities: Partnerships Connecting People, Plants, and Place
Donald A. Rakow, Meghan Gough, and Sharon A. Lee
Abstract
This book changes the paradigm for how we conceive of the role of urban public gardens. The book advocates for public gardens as community outreach agents that can, and should, partner with local organizations to support positive local agendas. Safe neighborhoods, quality science education, access to fresh and healthy foods, substantial training opportunities, and environmental health are the key initiative areas the book explores as it highlights model successes and instructive failures that can guide future practices. The book uses a prescriptive approach to synthesize a range of public, pri ... More
This book changes the paradigm for how we conceive of the role of urban public gardens. The book advocates for public gardens as community outreach agents that can, and should, partner with local organizations to support positive local agendas. Safe neighborhoods, quality science education, access to fresh and healthy foods, substantial training opportunities, and environmental health are the key initiative areas the book explores as it highlights model successes and instructive failures that can guide future practices. The book uses a prescriptive approach to synthesize a range of public, private, and nonprofit initiatives from municipalities throughout the country. In doing so, it examines the initiatives from a practical perspective to identify how they were implemented, their sustainability, the obstacles they encountered, the impact of the initiatives on their populations, and how they dealt with the communities' underlying social problems. By emphasizing the knowledge and skills that public gardens can bring to partnerships seeking to improve the quality of life in cities, this book offers a deeper understanding of the urban public garden as a key resource for sustainable community development.
Keywords:
urban public gardens,
quality of life,
sustainable community development,
community outreach,
environmental health,
healthy food,
neighbourhood
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2020 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781501702594 |
| Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: May 2021 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9781501702594.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Donald A. Rakow, author
Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Meghan Gough, author
Virginia Commonwealth University
Sharon A. Lee, author
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